Saturday, March 21, 2015

E-Flora BC presents an atlas of the recognized flora of the province, species that have been confirmed as growing wild in BC in sustaining populations. These are the established species. However, there are other species found in the province and new species appear on a regular basis. These include incoming species and garden escapes that are periodically found growing wild but are not yet established and populations often do not persist.

On E-Flora BC, we present a list of non-established species of vascular plants compiled by BC botanist Frank Lomer. Frank has been keeping track of reports of new species and has found many himself during his field work. Each year, new species are added to the list, while others are assessed to determine if they have become established and should become part of the flora of BC or if they should be kept on the non-established list, which is effectively a 'watch list' for the province.

We have just updated this list of non-established species for 2014, with some new additions, and some species now added to the BC flora.

One example of a species just added to the non-established list in 2014 is the watermelon (Citrullus lanatus). In his note on this species, Frank says: "The watermelon will sprout from seeds,
but rarely grows large enough to produce ripe fruit. Plants with
immature fruits will show up in landfills and soil dumps (Lomer 8574 @
UBC). Ephemeral. Year first noted: 2013."Another example is the Asian dwarf bamboo (Arundinaria humilis). Frank says: "Perennial Asian dwarf bamboo is
occasionally cultivated and will persist from dumpings and spread from
plantings. Collected along a grassy ditch dyke by a blueberry field in
Richmond, Metro Vancouver (Lomer 8216 @ UBC). Occasional. Year first
noted: 2013."

The 'watch list', or non-established species list, is important. It provides an early warning system of sorts for incoming and escaping species that can have the potential to become significant invasive species in the BC landscape.

You can view Frank's list of non-established and incoming species for 2014 here.

Marine biologist Aaron Baldwin has agreed to take on the role of
marine invertebrate editor for E-Fauna BC. An Alaskan Fisheries
biologist and marine taxonomist, Aaron has been functioning as
editor since the project began in 2007. He has compiled checklists
for many marine species groups, updated nomenclature, investigated
new species occurrences, and has been handling photo identifications on an ongoing basis.

Aaron juggles his work on E-Fauna BC with other projects and with
his work as a fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of
Fish and Game where he works on the Groundfish Project for
Southeast Alaska and Yakutat. Groundfish Project manages and
performs research for groundfish fisheries in Southeast Alaska
from the Canadian border to the Yakutat area.

Aaron has produced an online guide to seashore animals of southeast Alaska (read more here).

Sunday, March 1, 2015

E-Fauna Fish editor Eric Taylor has now provided an introduction to the Marine Fishes of British Columbia, covering the origin of our marine fish fauna, their biogeography, and conservation issues.

He says: "Canada has about 1,100 marine species of
fishes spread across the Atlantic, Arctic, and Pacific regions. The
Pacific Basin contains approximately 371 purely marine fishes (i.e.,
those that do not enter freshwater). Several other species (at least
20) occur in adjacent marine waters of Alaska and Washington State and
25 or so occur both in marine and fresh waters (e.g., Pacific salmon)."

Other Biodiversity Web Sites in BC

Accidental Species in BC

The fauna of British Columbia consists of a complement of species that include BC in their natural range or distribution. But occasionally other species find their way to BC. Recently sighted accidental species in BC include the Ribbon Seal, the Red-Flanked Bluetail, and the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle. Click on the links to read about them on E-Fauna BC.